County responds to COVID-19 threat
School, facility closures announced
During a news conference televised via Facebook Friday, March 13, Walker County government and schools announced closures related to coronavirus pandemic as the county continues to develop its operational support plans for departments responding to the emergency.
Walker County and Chickamauga city schools will be closed from Monday, March 16 through the end of the month. Students for both school systems will return after spring break on Monday, April 6. Schools have developed extended learning plans, and students were sent home with packets so that they can keep up with their studies. Some students may have lessons with a digital component that will allow for teachers to students as needed electronically during school hours.
Walker County schools will look into potential daycare options, and the pre-K lottery deadline has been extended.
Schools
For more information and updates, check the Walker County Schools website, www.walkerschools. org, and the Chickamauga City Schools website, www.chickamaugacityschools.org.
Walker County
Starting Monday, March 16, Walker County is closing all community and activity centers, including the Walker County Civic Center, Agricultural Center, LaFayette Senior Center, Rossville Athletic Center and other such facilities across the county through the end of March, Walker County Commissioner Shannon Whitfield announced.
The animal shelter will also be closed to the public; however, animal con
trol officers will be on duty and will respond to calls, such as animal bites.
The county is suspending 2020 Census events at this time. Whitfield encourages citizens to complete their census forms online, by mail or by phone.
Custodial staff will disinfect commonly-touched surfaces in public buildings and will fog to sanitize county buildings and transit vehicles, he said.
Walker County transit will continue to transport citizens for medical needs, grocery shopping and similar needs, but will not transport citizens for field trips and other nonessential trips, he said.
Meals on Wheels will continue to deliver meals to its clients, he said.
The county is posting Centers for Disease Control guidance on its website and encourages the public to conduct busi
ness online as much as possible, and anyone who feels sick or has a weakened immune system is urged not to attend commissioner’s meetings.
Emergency 911 is screening calls for first responders so that they can take extra precautions before treating a patient with a dry cough, fever and shortness of breath.
it addresses the COVID-19 public health crisis, he said.
“I believe the phrase from the Georgia Constitution, ‘Public officers are the trustees and servants of the people and are at all times amenable to them.’ is important and should be upheld at all times by our leaders,” Pierce wrote in an email when asked about the lawsuit. “It’s what compelled me to bring this complaint.”
The lawsuit cites failure to provide the email and any other pertinent documents as the motivation for the lawsuit.
Robinson’s email outlines several items she said she needed to discuss with the commissioner, including contracts Whitfield had not signed, “improper handing” of drug screens by the testing administrator, CHI Memorial, and concerns that a pattern of actions could demonstrate favoritism in promoting a friend and discrimination against more than one female employee of the county.
“Please understand the spirit in which I submit this email,” Robinson’s email said. “I see potential legal difficulties ahead that could be very costly to the county. It is my duty to raise the signal and help us to avoid these problems.”
Robinson said she had heard rumors that Whitfield’s friend, Mike Smith, would be promoted from patch truck driver to transit manager and would be paid $25 per hour; however, she advised the position needed to be reposted due to the length of the job vacancy and to allow other employees to apply. A few days before the rumors started, the pair had been seen sitting in Whitfield’s truck in the Department of Family and Children Services parking lot.
“April Tabor has been working as acting manager for two years. She has no disciplinary actions and no write-ups of any kind,” the email states. “What would be the justification in demoting or terminating her? It will be perceived as the Commissioner taking care of his friend at her expense. If her performance is below par, why hasn’t that been addressed? What efforts to help her improve have been made?
“To complicate that perception, accurate or not, is the very real fact that April Tabor has not been paid for the position for which she has been been (sic) made responsible. She continues to draw $13.00 an hour, which is dispatcher rate, even though Jennifer Pickard, who ran the program as an Administrative Assistant, made $15.00 an hour. Given that these are two female employees, how do we justify placing a male, with no previous Transit experience, over the program at $25.00 an hour? It will be virtually impossible to defend a charge of discrimination based on gender. This is especially true given the pending lawsuit that charges the very same treatment in another department under the Commissioner’s Office. It will not take a deep investigation to find that female department heads under the Commissioner do tend to make less than their male counterparts, and that there is another department being run by a female, without the promotion or pay increase to the rate the former manager had.”
If alleged, a discrimination complaint could lead to an investigation by the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs, as well as a complaint with the Department of Labor for violation of the Equal Pay for Equal Work Act and investigation for additional violations of federal labor laws.
Whitfield, Matt Harris and Perry Lamb qualified earlier this month to run as Republicans for the chairman of the Walker County Board of Commissioners.
Pierce denied political motivations behind his complaint.
“I’ve known Perry Lamb for about a year,” Pierce wrote in an email. “We met after I publicly called for Commissioner Whitfield to make use of state programs and funding to clean up a massive tire dump on Ridgeland Road. It’s still there today.
“I decided to support Perry Lamb after our second meeting at a forum last fall where he proposed an ethics pledge and called on candidates to sign it. Commissioner Whitfield declined to sign the pledge. I am volunteering and advocating for Perry Lamb because he has proposed policies that ensure the public’s business is conducted out in the open.”
The lawsuit seeks the production of that email, as well as any other responsive documents, and recovery of reasonable attorney’s and litigation fees related to the lawsuit; however, Pierce is not seeking any other payment.